Pork barrel is the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district. The usage originated in American English. In election campaigns, the term is used in derogatory fashion to attack opponents. Scholars, however, use it as a technical term regarding legislative control of local appropriations.

　　“ 豬肉桶” 是美國政界經(jīng)常使用的一個詞匯。南北戰(zhàn)爭前，南方種植園主家里都有幾個大木桶，把日后要分給奴隸的一塊塊豬肉腌在里面。 “豬肉桶”喻指人人都有一塊。后來，政界把議員在國會制訂撥款法時將錢撥給自己的州(選區(qū))或自己特別熱心的某個具體項目的做法，叫做“豬肉桶”。

　　Earmark: An earmark is when the legislature actually tells the government agency how to spend its money. Many citizens believe that Congress uses such earmarks to fund projects that will benefit only their locality or personal political supporters. Oftentimes in the past, money was allocated for such projects without conferences or Congressional discussion.

　　“指定（資金、時間等）作特定用途”在英文中叫作earmark，ear和mark大家都非常熟悉，“耳朵”和“記號”連在一起為什么就可以解釋為“指定（資金、時間等）作特定用途”呢？ 從前，西方的農(nóng)民習(xí)慣在牛、羊的耳朵上打上烙印，標(biāo)上主人的名字，以防被別人偷去。中國古代也有同樣的做法。由此可見，earmark在中外都是用來標(biāo)明專有權(quán)的，把這個意思引申一下，earmark 有“指定……僅供一種專門用途”的意思就可以理解了。例如： These funds are earmarked for famine relief.（這筆款項是專門撥給救濟饑荒用的。） 除此以外，earmark還可以引申為“特色”，例如： The film has all the earmarks of an epic.（這部電影具有雄壯詩史的一切特點。）